'Fingers in the till' Darling must go, says furious Vince Cable

Vince Cable has called for Alistair Darling to be sacked as Chancellor for being 'caught with his fingers in the till' abusing his Commons expenses.

The move comes as Mr Cable said reports that he may accept an offer from Gordon Brown to replace Mr Darling at the Treasury were 'nonsense'.

Mr Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said Mr Darling's moral authority had been destroyed for ever by the way he had 'flipped' the designation of his main and second homes to make a profit from his expenses.

Mr Cable, who rarely indulges in personal attacks, said that until the expenses furore he regarded Mr Darling as 'a fundamentally decent man doing an extremely difficult job'.

But his view had changed completely in the past two weeks as details of the Chancellor's expense claims have emerged.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Cable says: 'When he was accused of "flipping" homes and getting the taxpayer to pay his accountancy bills, I was stunned. I assumed that either a good explanation or a resignation would follow. Neither did.

'I then assumed that a proper independent investigation would be launched to clear his name. Nothing.'

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Mr Cable said the last straw came when he was listening to his car radio and heard Mr Darling say that all MPs were to blame, not him personally.

'My wife had to calm me down, otherwise I would have driven into a ditch with rage. I imagine that the vast majority of MPs, including Labour members, who have not been abusing the system, felt the same.

'Here is the company finance director caught with his fingers in the till. He doesn't explain. He doesn't apologise. He just blames his colleagues for not stopping him. His moral authority has vanished. He must go, now.'

Mr Cable was unenthusiastic about a claim that he could soon be sitting in Mr Darling's Cabinet chair. According to a report, Mr Brown could attempt to revive his fortunes by inviting senior Liberal Democrats to join the Cabinet - with Mr Cable top of the list of potential recruits.

But Mr Cable said he would turn down any such offer. 'There is not a scintilla of truth in the idea,' he added.

Rumours have swirled around Westminster over the past week that Mr Darling has had to be talked out of announcing he would be standing down as an MP at the next Election.

The Prime Minister is said to have begged Mr Darling to stay on, warning that his departure would send a signal of disarray at the heart of government.

However, some observers suggest that Mr Darling was effectively holding Mr Brown to ransom over the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle, forcing him to keep him in his post.